MLO 4: Secondary Cultural Knowledge
Learning Outcomes
In addition to the Spanish language and Hispanic cultures, the student demonstrates a general knowledge of a socio-cultural group other than a Hispanic one or mainstream American culture. The student develops a basic understanding of the ways of thinking (ideas, beliefs, attitudes, values, philosophies), the behavioral practices (patterns of social interactions) and the cultural products – both tangible and intangible (for example, art, history, literature, music) – of the second culture.
Reflections
In order to complete MLO 4, I choose to focus on the second cultural group and reflect on its culture, so, I took JAPN 308 in Fall 2014.
JAPN 308 course is about Japanese pop culture. Instead of focusing on the traditional culture of Japan, we are mostly focusing on the modern lifestyles and the popular culture, which show in sample 1. We also focus on the multimedia, where we learned about how pop culture is spreading to worldwide and becomes popular.
JAPN 308 course is about Japanese pop culture. Instead of focusing on the traditional culture of Japan, we are mostly focusing on the modern lifestyles and the popular culture, which show in sample 1. We also focus on the multimedia, where we learned about how pop culture is spreading to worldwide and becomes popular.
In Japan, reading manga, watching movie, and listening to the Japanese pop music are the activities that most of the Japanese people would normally do during their leisure time and commuting. As comics and animation has became the most influential sources of entertainment in the Japan, Japanese then have created many activities and products that is based on the comics and animation, such as animation figures and manga theme café, or even Cosplay events. In order to increase its popularity, Japanese people have introduced all types of trendy styles to people through Japanese movies, which encourage more people to follow the trend, and at the same time, people have uploaded all the trendy information through the internet, which is able to spread to worldwide and attract all the attention to worldwide.
Throughout the course, I also learned about Otaku culture, which it is in sample 2, and Otaku is referring to the people that obsessive interesting in animation and video games, and Akihabara is a place that most Otaku are gathering in. Otaku culture has been through many stages, which at first, they were being rejected from the society, but as animation and video games become popular and attract more foreigners, Otaku then becomes a popular trend as well. However, as there are many incidents happened due to Otaku, such as kidnapping and murdering, as well as Akihabara massacre, Otaku culture then has negative influences and some strict rules that prohibit their activities.
Due to the cultural differences, so we might see things that are different than the others and have different values. Dolls and plush toys, for example, some people think it is cute, some think it is creepy, and some even excited for it with an unreasoning enthusiastic. As in Japan, most people think dolls and plush toys are cute, and it has become a transitional object for them, since it can substitute as a role of a mother. But for some other traditional cultures, dolls and plush toys are represented for the dead children and corpses, so, it is horrible and a nightmare for them.